POULSBO — A goal Vikings Natalie Fritsch, Talitha Aban, Ingrid Reeves and Stephanie Longmate set when preseason practices kicked off in August has finally been met.
The swiftly swimming North Kitsap High School quartet took aim at beating the 400 free relay school record of 4:06.82 set by Whitney Glebe, Kathryn Parker, Fritsch and Longmate just one year ago.
Mission accomplished.
The fearsome foursome clocked a 4:06.53 breaking the previous school record by .29 in front of the hometown faithful at the North Kitsap Community Pool Tuesday against the Central Kitsap Cougars.
The school record was the bright spot of the day, considering CK defeated the Vikings 101-69 in both teams’ final dual meet of the regular season.
When Longmate’s outstretched hand reached the wall a full scale celebration erupted. Aban raised her hands in the air, Fritsch gave a smiling Reeves a hug while Longmate gazed at the clock in amazement. Vikings swim coach Greg Braun yelled to his team “Yeah! You guys beat it!”
Braun was thrilled to witness the team fulfill one of its loftiest preseason goals.
“They deserve every bit of that record,” he said. “It’s going to be fun seeing what they do can do at league and districts in the next few weeks.”
Braun said the Vikings benefited from more practice time in the pool during the past few weeks.
“For a while there we had two meets a week, and there wasn’t much time for workouts or for rest,” he said. “We needed the practice time and rest. It paid off.”
The achievement was extra special because it came in front of the home crowd on senior day, Braun said.
“Everybody is here watching today and for them to perform the way they did was amazing,” he said. “When kids use their talent and their brain, they can do uncommon things.”
Longmate said attaining the record didn’t cross her mind during the last 20 meters of the race.
“I didn’t know we were that close to the record. I didn’t have a clue. I was just trying to beat the CK swimmer next to me. We were pumped up trying to beat the CK girls,” she said. “We were hoping to break the record all season long, I was pretty surprised we did it today.”
Aban said she kept her eye on Longmate and the clock as her teammate approached the final wall.
“When it got down to six seconds away we (Fritsch, Aban, Reeves) were all going, ‘Oh my god.’ It was pretty exciting,” she said. “Getting this record is something we’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the year. We’ve always had the physical ability. I think it was just a matter of mentally rising to the challenge.”
It was a tough day for seniors Samantha Lemagie, April Rauch, Chyna Riedel, Megan Cook, Txanton Cleverly, Crista Dougherty, Fritsch and Aban as it marked the last time they will compete in the North Kitsap Community Pool as Vikings.
“Today was really emotional for everybody but especially for me,” said Vikings co-captain Lemagie. “I cried the entire time (when seniors were recognized). Talitha and I have been on the team together for four years. It’s been a really good four years.”
The Vikings will compete in the Narrows League swimming championships beginning at 10 a.m. today at Foss High School in Tacoma. Vikings swimmers who finished with prolific enough times will compete in the district meet at 4 p.m. Oct. 27 at Rogers High School in Puyallup.
